Whatever's in a Name
by Shade105
Summary: As Blu teaches Jewel to recognize the shapes and patterns in the constellations, he comes to a valuable conclusion about life and love. BluxJewel One-shot


**A/N: Hello everybody!**

**I just want to point out how incredibly happy I am to have this one-shot finished and posted. I started to work on this story about one to three days after the premiere of Rio 2, and ever since that moment I've completely dedicated myself to making this as good as it can possibly be. I fell in love with Rio again after seeing the sequel, and thought to myself that if I was going to write for the fandom, I may as well do it justice. So here is the product of all those hours of hard work. I do hope you enjoy story and give me your opinion about it.**

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_Whatever's in a Name:_

"_Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better.__"_

_William Shakespeare._

The night brought about peace and tranquility to all creatures in the lush jungle outside of Rio. Crickets and other nocturnal creatures drowned the exotic wild with their hums and melodies as everything settled down to the tender calm. Careful enough to soothe her hatchlings to sleep with sweet songs and a gentle, caring hand on their heads, Jewel managed to put her and Blu's three small chicks into a deep slumber. As Tiago finally succumbed to fatigue and his mother's gentle lullabies, the female macaw smiled contemptuously.

"Sleep well, small ones." She turned her back on them, and carefully started towards the opening of their birdhouse. Looking back before leaving, she assured herself that they slept without troubles. Carla, their oldest daughter, was huddled up tightly against her music player, and silently hummed her favorite tunes in her snooze. Bia, their middle daughter, was stretched out, and spoke to herself of numbers and science. Tiago, their youngest child and only son, snored and kicked his leg. Jewel could not help but to chuckle as she noticed him.

"You couldn't have turned out more like your father, could you?" She silently whispered before turning and soaring out of the house.

Flying a ways out, she spotted her partner perched on the windowsill of the closed sanctuary kitchen. Jewel could not help but to smile as she noticed that he paced to and fro, anxiously waiting for her arrival;

'Anxious, as always,' Jewel playfully mused under a small chuckle, as she swooped down towards the windowsill with perfect silence. In his worry, he did not even notice her approach.

Coming down on Blu's blind side caught the inattentive male by surprise. He jumped from the suddenness of her touchdown, nearly falling back from the scare.

"Woah!" Blu blurted, clasping his chest deadpanned as he stared at his newly arrived partner. "Jewel, you scared me." The female macaw kept the grin she had brought with her in flight. She chuckled softly, amused by Blu's skittishness.

"Who else would it be?" Jewel asked teasingly.

"Well, I don't know," Blu responded restlessly as he looked about fretfully. "It could have anyone or anything. Like the killer anaconda we saw last week." Jewel let out a warm laugh this time, unable bear how foolish his partner sounded. Blu, glancing at her dubiously, lifted an eye. "What?"

"What we saw last week was a vine, not a _killer_ anaconda," Jewel clarified, teasing her partner. Blu furrowed his eyebrows together.

"It was an anaconda, I swear!" Blu exclaimed with outstretched arms.

"Sure you do, sweetie," Jewel sarcastically agreed. Gently placing a kiss on the bridge of Blu's beak compelled the male macaw to cease from proving his point. Seeing how convincing Jewel that it was indeed a Green Amazonian Anaconda would be pointless, Blu froze with his mouth agape and his index feather pointed up.

"I finally got them to fall asleep," Jewel changed topic. Smiling, the male macaw dropped his finger and reached out for Jewel with an inviting wing. The female macaw happily placed her wing on his; and with a great and confident tug, she fell into his embrace. He held her in his enfold, sharing, for but a brief moment, their warmth. Jewel closed her eyes for the jiff of time, but was caught by surprise when Blu suddenly spun her away from him with eloquence. As if following the rhythm of music, he let her spin outward until only their wings held together; then, with great precision, he pulled her back into his hold and kiss. Jewel melted into his well executed moves; secretly proud of all that he had learned of "Brazilian" passion and romance throughout the time they had been together. A grin grew on her face mid-kiss, and as their lips parted, the two could feel burning chemistry sparking between them.

"Wonderful!" Blu said. "I thought you would never get them to go to sleep."

"Well, you know mommy." She remarked haughtily. "Mommy never fails." Lifting her wing, she caressed the side of Blu's face.

"She sure doesn't," Blu agreed, placing another kiss on the tip of her beak. "You're the perfect mommy, Jewel. You're just all around perfect."

As Jewel's star painted eyes landed on her mate's, she grinned. Something about his eye –though silly and expressive as ever- caught her attention. In them, she could see a love for her so deep that she could drown in its vastness. His love was intoxicating.

"As are you," She added.

Wordlessly induced into keeping their silence, the two macaws became mere silhouettes in the nocturnal dance of shadows. Blu held Jewel by the waist, contemplating her graceful visage. Jewel did much the same, but allowed herself to be swept away by the jungle's ocean of wild senses: the gentle, moist air, and the dew on her beak; she breathed in the air, catching the Queen of the Night's exhilarating aroma; she allowed herself to hear the forest, adjusting herself to the perfect harmony. Returning from her voyage of the senses, she was back with her mate. His breathing was gentle and calm; a happy sight to the she-macaw. She prayed that the moment would last a lifetime and more.

But Fate, taking the role of the merry jester, broken the moment all too soon. Blu, gazing at Jewel's eyes, caught the stars glistening off of them, and suddenly remembered why they were there in the first place. To Jewel's dismay, Blu slipped away from the embrace, nearly dropping his partner in the process. Smiling in that silly manner of his, he turned away from Jewel and reached down to a small pack he had by his side. Jewel nearly ate Blu's tail feathers as he leaned down to rummage through the bag in search of an object unknown to her. The female macaw stepped back as she glanced at the male and the commotion he made.

"Oh, Jewel!" Blu began –with his _all-too-American_ enthusiasm. "For a moment a nearly forgot why I asked you to come. Ugh, stupid me."

_Oh, right… there was a reason for us to be here._

"Oh, well, that's okay, Blu," Jewel started, dodging Blu's hind tail once more as he dug deeper into his bag. She moved closer to the male macaw as he inspected his sack for a moment longer. Suddenly, he stopped mid-track, and sighed, happy to know he had what he was looking for. The male erected himself as Jewel placed a wing on his shoulder. Unable to see what Blu held, she pleased herself with the thought that, perhaps, her mate had chosen to forget whatever was in his bag to have another magical moment with her.

The pleasant thought was quickly abandoned, however, as Jewel heard the distinct robotic voice of one of Blu's _devices_.

"Welcome!" it shrieked in its grotesquely unnatural voice and awoke some of their nearby bird neighbors.

"Turn that off!," they complained in vain, as Blu paid no attention.

"Thank you, Star-Finder Supreme," Blu responded to the _thing._ He turned towards Jewel, forcing her to dodge his carelessly spun hind feathers once more. Attempting to gaze at her partner became a painful task as the machine's vivid light struck the female macaw's unprepared eyes. She squinted and covered her face.

"Oww," Jewel complained. "That's bright!"

"Oh!" Blu squawked. "Sorry about that." Quickly, he lowered the brightness of the device's screen. Jewel, adjusting her eyes to the still-tremendously disruptive light, caught a sight of what her mate observed on the screen. Millions of white dots swept across the display; here and there, shapes were drawn across the blackness.

"What's a 'Star-Finder... Supreme'?" Jewel asked as she struggled to focus on the bright screen. Looking up to Jewel, Blu gave the female a look askance.

"It's a Star-map," he remarked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"A Star _map_?" Jewel repeated Blu's words in a tone of curiosity.

"You don't know what a star-map is?"

"Blu," the female objected as she placed her wing on the naïve macaw's shoulder. "Those are human things, honey."

"Oh, right!" Blu smacked his forehead. "I forgot about that." The male macaw's eyes lit up with enthusiasm as he cleared his voice for one of his all-too-known explanations of _the human world_. What was irritating to Jewel early on in their relationship had become but a normal part of their daily living; so the female macaw, brushing away her annoyance, looked to Blu attentively.

"So," Blu started, his voice cracking from the nerves. "Ha-have you ever looked to the stars, and paid really good attention to them?" The male macaw pointed to the sky, prompting his mate's attention. As Blu glanced over to Jewel, he noticed the stars' vivid reflection on her eyes again. The lights dancing in her visage, alongside the grace of her sculpture-perfect posture was the sweetest of sights to Blu. Dumbstruck, the male was left without words, and momentarily froze.

"Well, yeah," Jewel snapped Blu out of his hypnotic state with the sound of her voice. "There are millions of them." Turning her attention away from the stars, she fixed her eyes on her partner. He blinked repeatedly, awakening from the enchantment that had mesmerized him.

"Well," Blu continued. "Humans found out that it's possible to keep track of all the stars in the sky. They have made maps of them to keep track of their position in the sky." Pointing to his device, he drew Jewel's attention to the display. "It's hard to understand, at first, but if you learn how it works, it can be very dandy."

"Oh… that's.. uhh, interesting," Jewel remarked, attempting to show interest for something Blu clearly invested more time in than herself. Foolishly and without thinking, she ventured into asking: "What is it 'dandy' for?"

"Oh!" Blu smiled, surprised that she would be interested. "It's good for loads of things! You can use it navigate, and travel. But more importantly, you can use it to name the stars known." Jewel cocked her head to the side.

"The stars have names?" Jewel asked, ponderously. Blu moved closer to Jewel as he smiled. Facing the stars, the two pressed their bodies together.

"Well, yeah," Blu replied. Looking down to the device he still clung on to. He began to compare the white dots on the screen with the stars in the havens above. Blu worked ardently to locate the similarities between the virtual and the real as Jewel looked to him. His dedication to the task strangely fascinated her.

"That's Spica, That's Saiph, and that's Alfard over there," Blu started, pointing in directions that were not exactly clear to the Jewel. Estranged, the female began to study the star map, trying to spot it's similarities with the sky. The task was ardently difficult though; and what Blu could coolly understand to was but a mystery to her. "Lanx Australis is over here, close to Saturn."

"Blu," Jewel interrupted her husband. "I don't exactly see what you are pointing at." The male macaw looked over to Jewel, and noticed her puzzled eyes. What she said was absolutely true: She did not understand the map.

Blu frowned, feeling like he was starting to lose his partner's attention. Quickly, the male macaw began to devise a way to make her understand. He thought back to his learning experience, and tried to recall the way he managed to learn the stars and their patterns. He thought back to those days when he and Linda would spend long nights under the stars, withstanding the bitter cold of Fall. Suddenly, he remembered how he had originally gotten his footing.

Turning to Jewel, Blu smiled. Walking behind his wife, he delicately placed his wings on her shoulders.

"Look to your right," he whispered as he slowly craned Jewel's body in that direction. Jewel was startled as Blu placed the weight of his beak on her right shoulder, and for a moment she eyed her mate. "See the star that's shining the brightest over there?" Looking away from Blu, she cast her eyes into the blackness of the night. Focusing enough, she caught of glimpse of what her husband pointed to.

"Yeah?" she asserted.

"That star is called Sirius," Blu stated. "Now…" The male macaw lifted his wing and stretched it out beyond Jewel. As he fixed it to point exactly at the star, Blu closed one eye and bit his tongue. "Try to focus your eyes so that Sirius is right on the tip of my wing." For a moment, Jewel winced, looking at Blu skeptically. Her husband, doing his best to keep his wing on the star, shut his one closed eye tighter. "Come on." Yielding, Jewel started to adjust herself, leaning her head on his open wing to get the best sight. She suddenly felt remarkably close to him. Her head was on his wrist, near to his chest, and she could feel the presence of his gentle breath on her neck. She was distracted momentarily, but soon enough, her eyes had put the star where it had to be.

"Okay," Jewel murmured. "What next?"

"Follow my wing to the next star it points to," Blu instructed in a gentle whisper, as his mouth was right by her ear drum. Slowly and carefully, he lowered his hand to the bright star below. "That's Mirzam," Blu explained. He then continued to trace the stars, calling out the names of each, until he had a full constellation drawn. "These stars come together to make the Great Dog constellation." Separating from Jewel, he moved to her side and displayed the device he was holding. Its light caught Jewel inadvertently again; but that was minor to her sudden separation from her husband. She shivered as chills crawled up her back.

"See the dog?" he inquired as he pointed to the constellation on the screen. Jewel, who had to take a moment to understand the shape of the dog, suddenly recognized it in the sky. She half smiled and lifted an eye.

"What do you know," She remarked. "It is a dog."

For hours they continued, attempting to draw shapes in the stars. Hard it was to get Jewel to understand, at first; but she got acquainted to it soon enough. Though nonsensical to the female macaw, she invested her time and patience to understand everything Blu explained. It did not seem to make sense that Blu would bring her out to explain the entire sky to her, but she allowed it to fly.

As she got a hang of it, exhaustion began to set in. Jewel looked drained, and as Blu finished drawing the Air Pump constellation to her, she yawned deeply.

"Blu," she murmured mid-yawn, setting her head down on his chest. "I'm kind of getting tired. Could we do the rest of this tomorrow?" Blu was stricken with bitter hysteria as he realized that, if delayed any longer, he would be unable to reveal his gift to her. He took a deep breath as his mouth partially dropped open.

"Uhh, Jewel… Wait," he nervously pleaded. "I have to show you one last thing."The female macaw eyed her husband from his chest with tired eyes. Each time she blinked, her eyes became heavier.

"Hmm?" Jewel hummed, paying what attention she could give him. Blu, peering at a Jewel, swallowed the knot that had formed in his throat.

"I… I named a star after you," Blu announced, rallying what courage he had to reveal the surprise. With her eyes locked on Blu's, Jewel tenderly smiled. "There's this site where you can have them officially named. I even got a certificate." The male macaw pointed to the sky again, directing his feathers towards the Southern Triangle constellation. "The star's right above Betria. It's now called Jewel." As delight filled Blu, he glanced down to Jewel; but, to his dismay, she seemed to be fast asleep. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was lightly open as she snoozed. "Uhh, Jewel?" The male macaw carefully shook his chest to check if his partner was fully asleep. He tried to nudge her again, getting her to faintly shiver. She scooted closer to Blu, furrowing her head deeper into his chest. "Jewel?"

"What's in a name?" Jewel inquired, half asleep and disregardful of meaning. Blu, taken aback by her reaction to his gift, wrinkled his eyes brows together. He felt utter shock that Jewel would be unappreciative of his gift to the extent that she would trivialize the whole deed. He shook the thought away by looking to the sky and focusing his also tired eyes at the star he had named. Before he could completely abstracted himself from the world around him, Jewel snuggled herself against her husband.

"Blu, I love you," she sweetly cooed. Captivated by her words, Blu looked down; and by a chance of fate, or a blow of foolish luck, he came to the sweetest realization he would have:

"_What's in a name?_" Blu recalled Juliet saying, in her moon-licked balcony. "_That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet._" And true her words were indeed, for Juliet knew that a name was worth nothing if it did not belong to the one beloved.

And the star was a star, and Jewel was Jewel; and while the star danced high in the celestial ceiling, Jewel was there –like a rose, sweet, next to him. And even though the star would be named Jewel, it would not shine more. No, indeed it would not luster more, or be more beautiful in any way. The name did not matter; his beloved did.

"Jewel, I love you too," Blu replied.

**Please Comment.**

**Thankies!**


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